di Resta defends Force India tactics

Paul di Resta has defended the tactics his team have used over recent races in regards to qualifying.

In recent races, with the latest example coming in Korea, Force India have managed to make it through the first two stages of qualifying, only to then refuse to partake in the third stage of qualifying which decides the places in the top ten.

Instead, Force India have remained in the pits and taken a default ninth and tenth position, which then saves them a set of softer, faster tyres for the race and gives them the option of deciding which compound tyre to start the race with.

The option of deciding which compound tyre to start the race with, is suppose to be an advantage to the teams outside of the top ten, but refusing to run allows Force India to do the same.

di Resta believes that Force India’s strategy is the correct one to take as they are using an extra set of tyres to get through to Q3 in comparison to the likes of Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari.

‘Take the Japanese GP for example – Force India I believe did 13 laps in qualifying, and Red Bull Racing did eight and were on pole, Now, the number of laps tells you what we need to do to get through. The quick teams do not need to use a set of soft tyres to get through Q1. To me, that is the advantage they have got he told Autosport Magazine.

The other advantage the faster teams have is the ability to complete an extra pit-stop, but di Resta believes Force India do not have the race pace to make that race strategy viable.

He added: ‘With the race strategies, the middle teams are always having to do a stop less because you cannot get yourself clear of all the traffic, whereas they [the top teams] are quick enough to clear it. They are able to do more stops, be more aggressive.’

So instead of trying to compete with the likes of Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes, Force India have made this tactic work to keep them ahead of the likes of Renault, Sauber, Toro Rosso and Williams in recent races.

Force India are currently sixth in the Formula 1 constructors’ world championship 23-points behind Renault in fifth and 9-points ahead of Sauber in seventh.